"Daytime TV isn't the most exciting stuff," he said following a full-contact practice with the team at the Steel Ice Center in Bethlehem on Tuesday, where he centered Zack Stortini and rookie Taylor Leier.

Jones suffered a groin injury Jan. 17 in Albany, and has missed two dozen games after undergoing a surgery that kept him from working out for a few weeks because of the way it affected his core muscles.

He had been skating in a non-contact and limited contact role at practice the past few weeks, but looked full bore ready to go on Tuesday as the Phantoms prepared to keep the momentum of a three-game road winning streak rolling heading into games on the road Friday and Saturday. The team returns to play in the PPL Center on Sunday for the first time in more than two weeks.

Tribune

Tribune

"I have him in a line as you see," Phantoms coach Terry Murray said of Jones. "He's been skating for a couple weeks, been doing all his work off the ice. I would say he's good to go. We'll check with him later in the week of practice, but I would say he'll be in the lineup this weekend."

That's pretty welcome news, not just because of Jones' big 6-foot-3, 215-pound body, but because the parent club Philadelphia Flyers called up center Nick Cousins after Saturday night's win. Cousins leads the Phantoms in goals (21), assists (34) and points (55).

"I hope he's ready to go," said Phantoms winger Jay Rosehill. "That's this league. Guys go up and guys come down. We've had some injuries so we should be used to dealing with a rotating lineup now. We just have to deal with what we've got."

Jones was told that he would be back in eight weeks following surgery and he's right on target for that if he plays on Friday in Hartford. He said he never counted the number of games he's been out of the Phantoms' lineup.

"I knew the time frame for the injury and how much time I was going to miss, so there was no sense stressing over the number of games when you have no control over it," the 28-year-old said.

Following the surgery, when he wasn't even allowed to do a plank to work on his core, Jones spent time catching up with buddies back home in Central Butte, Saskatchewan, by phone, going grocery shopping and cooking.

"Anything to kill time," he said. "It was hard. I had a lot of time to do nothing. It was very, very frustrating. I'd be lying if I said any different. I've worked really hard to get back and hope to get a hot streak going the last 16 games we have left and get into the playoffs."

PUSH TOWARD THE PLAYOFFS: When the Phantoms hit the road last Wednesday, they were nine points and four places in the standings out of a playoff spot.

After picking up three wins, including one in shootout, the Phantoms (29-24-6-1 for 65 points) earned six critical points and one place in the AHLEastern Conference standings, tied with Albany for 11th place.

"We were just a little more consistent," Rosehill said of the success on the road. "We didn't have one of those periods where we lost all our momentum and let the other team take over. We didn't have any real bad starts."

And, they had great play from the special teams. The Phantoms went 3-for-8 on the power play and killed off 11 of 13 short-handed situations. Murray additionally pointed out big saves from Rob Zepp and Anthony Stolarz, particularly with Stolarz in Saturday's game when the Phantoms were down 2-0, to give the team momentum and purpose.

While the playoffs looked like a pipe dream just a week ago, they look a winning streak away right now for the Phantoms, playing in their 19th season, but their first in Lehigh Valley.

The Phantoms have two games in hand on Albany (27-24-5-6) and four games in hand on 10th-place St. John's (29-27-6-2 for 70 points). Worcester, like Lehigh Valley, has played 60 games, and sits in ninth place with 70 points while Springfield, with 63 games played, sits in the eighth and final playoff spot with 73 points (33-23-7-0).

This week, the Phantoms play their penultimate three-in-three, visiting seventh-place Hartford (33-21-5-3 for 74 points in 62 games) 7 p.m. Friday, followed by a 7 p.m. Saturday game in Worcester, and then ending the weekend at home for the first time in two weeks with a 5:05 p.m. game against the fourth-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (36-20-2-4 for 78 points), who have perhaps the best goalie in the AHL this season in rookie Matt Murray.

"We've not got a whole lot of games left and we're points back, so we can't say every game is do-or-die, because it's not yet," Rosehill said. "We have to take whatever we can get. We have to keep it up. We can't rest on just one weekend because there aren't enough games left."

Even a six-point sweep this weekend won't give the Phantoms enough points to claw their way into a playoff spot, but such a jump could provide the thrust this team needs to keep it flying over the final games of the season.

The Phantoms, riding their three-game winning streak heading into the final 16 games of the season, are without leading scorer Cousins, the reigning CCM/AHL Player of the Week, as well as leading defenseman scorer Brandon Manning, both of whom have been called up by the Flyers.